Tinkering with gear

Some folks seem to really enjoy tinkering with gear. Any sort of gear works for the tinkerer. Some people tinker with fishing gear, others with guns, some with cars, still more with archery equipment.

When I was a child my buddies tinkered with the standard items I listed above. Not me. On the first Christmas that I can remember making a gift request I asked for a microscope. I got it along with a few pre-made slides, blank slides and a chemistry set.

Those gifts were my first steps toward a career in medicine that lasted 43 years. Granted, along that path I enjoyed sports, which included fishing, hunting, cycling, running and swimming. But, I never tinkered with the gear used in those sports.

Two years ago I took up archery. To my dismay, it required I tinker. Primarily, I am obligated to fiddle around with my scope and sight. To be very honest, I do not enjoy messing with either.

Unlike my run this morning, where I gathered my gear – shoes, shorts, t-shirt. hat and pace dog – today’s archery practice was a tedious process. That tedium brought on because I switched my gear from a hunter class rig to that with a sight/scope and long stabilizers. To compound the effort of sighting I’d purchased a new bow since I last used my sight and scope.

The twenty-yard mark for the new bow was where the taped mark for the 40-yard graduation was from the old bow (not even close). That meant the process of calibrating two marks and matching the yardage tape had to be repeated. Plus, the windage had to be adjusted to find the center.

The 3rd target meant I could stop tinkering for the day.

Personally, I prefer to shoot. Sadly, the tinkering had to be completed in order to shoot with accuracy. Today, I tinkered for 2 hours adjusting the sight and scope. It was a tad frustrating; later I’ll go ride a bike (without any tinkering required) to burn off some steam.

The world needs people that tinker with gear. Happily for me, it also needed people in the medical field during my working days. If I’d needed to earn a living tinkering I expect I’d have starved.